Friends Say Developer Hated Illegal Drugs

If federal drug agents` allegations about Frederick J. Grieser Jr. prove true, the wealthy Lake Worth realtor and developer has been living a secret life, testimony at a pretrial detention hearing Monday indicated.

More than a dozen of Grieser`s relatives, friends and associates trekked to federal court in West Palm Beach to testify about his reputable personal and professional character and, above all, his dislike for illegal drugs.

``When he talked about drugs, it was on a very, very negative side,`` said broker Daniel P. Lewis, a real-estate company vice president and Grieser`s brother-in-law.

DeMonaco, who lives with Grieser at his canal-front house in the 100 block of Neptune Drive in Hypoluxo, said the man she knows never has been even a social user of cocaine.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration tells a different story.

Grieser, 43, was charged Wednesday with selling a kilo of cocaine for $30,000 to an undercover officer. Negotiations for the sale had gone on since mid- July, according to court records.

A search of Grieser`s 1984 Corvette and his house turned up two more kilos of coke, professional scales with cocaine residue on them, a number of weapons and more than half a million dollars in cash, silver, stock certificates and a cashier`s check.

Joseph Kilmer, a DEA special agent, testified that Grieser, before being arrested, talked of other coke deals and of having suppliers in the Bahamas.

U.S. Magistrate Ann Vitunac said she would decide by Thursday whether to grant a government request to hold Grieser without bond until trial, or to set bail.

In a separate line of questioning, Kilmer said agents also found a piece of paper in a car with air-smuggling information.

``It appeared to be an intelligence report made out by a law enforcement official,`` Kilmer said. How Grieser got possession of the document, which was written in longhand, will be investigated, he said.

Attorney Robert Madlin, who testified that he represented Grieser in a 1983 contract dispute over an airplane purchase, said Palm Beach County sheriff`s aviation Deputy Leslie Kent Glover gave the document to him and Grieser.

Glover was mentioned in the document as having flown a Cessna 402 owned by Grieser, and thought that might hurt his chance for promotion to sergeant, Madlin said.

Glover, who was promoted, could not be reached for comment, and Sheriff`s Office spokesman Mike McNamee said he knew nothing about the document but would check into it.

Also mentioned in the document was a former sheriff`s vice detective, who also flew Grieser`s plane, Kilmer said.

Madlin said another of Grieser`s pilots was John D. Hoffman, whom DEA agents once stopped. Hoffman was once criminally charged in a drug case, but had adjudication of guilt withheld after completing probation, Madlin testified.